Apple Pancakes (German Apfelpfannkuchen)

Apfelpfannkuchen, or German Apple Pancakes, are a light and eggy breakfast treat, full of slices of sweet, caramelized apples. Apfel (pronounced as it is spelled AP-fel) is the German word for apple, and tacking it onto the front of pfannkuchen get us delicious apple pancakes. You can find many different recipes for Apfelpfannkuchen. Some use leavening, others don’t. Some are baked in the oven, others are cooked on the stove top. What they all have in common is a very eggy batter and a pancake that fills the cooking vessel.

2 large cooking apples (yellow delicious, or granny smith)
¼ cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
1 cup milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg, freshly grated
confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 475°F (245°C/225°C fan, Gas Mark 9).

Peel, core and very thinly slice the apples: you should have approximately 1½ cups. Melt 3 Tbsp. of the butter over medium low heat in a small fry pan, and sauté the apples until they are just tender. Keep apples warm while preparing the batter.

Place a 9 or 10" cast-iron skillet in the oven to heat for at least 5 minutes - the pan has to be very hot for this to work. When it is well heated, add the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter to melt and put the skillet back in the oven, the butter should be very hot buy not brown when you add the apples and the batter.

Place the flour, milk, vanilla, salt and nutmeg in a blender and whirl until smooth. Remove the skillet from the oven, quickly arrange the warm apple slices over the butter, melted, and pour the batter evenly over all.

Bake for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 375°F (190°C/170°C fan, Gas Mark 5) and bake 10 minutes longer. The pancake will puff and climb up the sides of the pan.

Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, then cut in wedges and serve with maple syrup.

Cook's Note: If you do not use apples, add ¼ cup (½ stick) butter to the hot skillet.